Are
you a typical American? If so you have a one in 18 chance
of getting colorectal cancer in your life time.
About
60,000 American die from this cancer every year and over
the last 70 years there has been virtually no progress in
the fight against this menace according to Charles B. Simone,
M.D. writing in the International Journal of Integrative
Medicine.
Why
should it matter if you are an American or not? Because
the US. together with Western Europe has the highest rates
of colorectal cancer incidences in the world. The lowest
rates are in African and Asian countries that have not adopted
Western dietary practices to a large degree. This means
that dietary factors, not heredity, are primarily responsible
for different incidence rates.
In
countries with high incidence rates, most colorectal cancers
are located on the left side near the end of the colon and
where the rectum begins. In other countries most of the
cancers are in the right colon. Why? Carcinogens become
progressively more concentrated at the end of the GI tract.
And that's where the role of fiber comes in.
There
are at least two ways in which fiber helps to prevent this
form of cancer:
1)
Fiber is a complex carbohydrate that provides the structure
of plant cells. It is undigestible by the GI tract and therefore
provides bulk that is easily transported through the roughly
27 feet of small and large intestines. It allows a little
or no stagnation of food residue and fecal matter in your
intestines and therefore no putrefaction. Mrs. Hsu compares
her DC-2 (Pure Psyllium Seed Husk with no coloring, sugar
and preservatives) to a broom cleaning out your colon.
2)
Fiber acts as a "glue" for certain chemicals.
It binds to cholesterol, lipids, nitrogen, and other undesirable
substances and carries them quickly out of your body to
where they belong - the toilet bowl and not your blood stream.
Despite
many warnings by health professionals, Americans still consume
only about one third of the necessary daily fiber through
the foods they consume which makes fiber supplementation
an absolute necessity.
According
to the National Academy of Science, over 40% of Americans
are likely to develop a form of cancer. For you, colorectal
cancer should not be one of them.
